Legislative Swing Districts on the Oregon Coast See Extraordinary Spending

Both districts include portions of Oregon’s bellwether county, Tillamook.

Cows along Mccormick loop in Tillamook, OR on August 15, 2020.

In a year that Oregonians will vote on Measure 107, which would amend the Oregon Constitution to legalize campaign finance limits, legislative races have broken previous spending records.

The campaigns for two coastal legislative seats, House District 32, which covers Clatsop County and the northern half of Tillamook County, and Senate District 5, which stretches from Coos County to the middle of Tillamook County, have already eclipsed the $2 million mark in total spending.

In House District 32, which state Rep. Tiffiny Mitchell (D-Astoria) is vacating, Democrat Debbie Boothe-Schmidt has raised a whopping $1.36 million, while Republican Suzanne Weber, the longtime mayor of Tillamook, has raised $904,000. Their total of more than $2.2 million beats the previous total of just under $2 million spent in 2016 by now-Rep. Janelle Bynum (D-Clackamas) and Republican Lori Chavez-DeRemer.

In Senate District 5, a seat being vacated by state Sen. Arnie Roblan (D-Coos Bay), Democrat Melissa Cribbins has raised $1.18 million and Republican Dick Anderson, the Lincoln City mayor who narrowly lost to Roblan in 2016, has raised $974,000.

That total tops the $1.88 million now-Sen. Chuck Riley (D-Hillsboro) and then-incumbent state Sen. Bruce Starr (R-Hillsboro) spent in 2014. (Riley won.)

Related: Tillamook County Usually Picks the Presidential Winner. Its Residents Are More Polarized Than Ever.

But the Anderson-Cribbins race isn't even the most expensive Senate race of 2020. That title goes Senate District 10, where incumbent Sen. Denyc Boles (R-Salem) faces a challenge from Democrat Deb Patterson. Each has brought in $1.27 million.

Those campaign war chests far outstrip the pay for serving as a legislator. Oregon lawmakers get paid modestly—$31,200 per year, plus payments per diem when the Legislature is in session that double that compensation in odd-numbered years.

But the cash pouring in from caucus PACs and special interest groups on both sides is aimed at higher stakes than simply replacing incumbents.

Republicans are desperate to claw back seats from Democrats, who hold supermajorities in both chambers. Those supermajorities allow Democrats to pass taxes, as they did with the 2019 Student Success Act, without a single vote from Republicans or a referral to voters. Democrats are looking to increase their majorities. With a three-fifths advantage, they could maintain a quorum, even if Republicans choose to walk out again. (The Democrats hold a 38-22 advantage in the House and 18-12 in the Senate; they need to pick up two seats in each chamber to make their majorities walkout-proof.)

Ballots must be dropped at an official site by 8 pm on Nov. 3 in order to be counted. (It's too late to mail them.) Here's how to find the drop box nearest you.

Willamette Week’s reporting has concrete impacts that change laws, force action from civic leaders, and drive compromised politicians from public office. Support WW's journalism today.